Must Read Money Stories for Tuesday, March 17

A record sale in the Windy City. The Blackstone Group, a private equity investor based out of New York, bought Chicago’s Willis Tower on Monday for a record $1.3 billion. According to the Chicago Tribune, it’s the most expensive building sale in America outside of Manhattan. As I wrote last week, Willis — formerly Sears Tower — makes $10,000 in income every hour from its retail, tourist and office revenues, and it looks like Blackstone plans to improve its facilities even more.

The cost of playing at South by Southwest. The SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, is in full swing right now and many up-and-coming bands are forking over thousands of dollars for the privilege to play a few shows at the gathering, according to the New York Times. The Prettiots, a relatively unknown ukulele trio, told the Grey Lady that they’re spending around $10,000 on gas, accommodations, and a manager to play four shows in Austin, which they see as a “necessary evil” to get them exposure.

Saudi Arabia wants you! As oil prices have plummeted across the globe, U.S. shale workers who’ve lost their jobs are being wooed by the state-owned Saudi Aramco, Bloomberg writes. Saudi Arabia traditionally hasn’t focused on extracting shale oil due to its large crude oil reserves, but is now looking to expand its horizons as its conventional oil fields age. Poaching hydraulic fracturing experts from America with big money could give them the expertise they need.

Millennials and news. Generation Y is more likely to pay for a subscription to a news service if its in print, according to the Media Insight Project. The study also found that many millennials count consuming news as a major reason why they visit Facebook. Head over to Harvard’s Nieman Lab to find out more about millennial news consumption habits.